Ann: Cauldron to Acquire River Sand Interests, page-10

Singapore needs sand and lots of it. The survival of Singapore an Island nation state depends upon it. In total there are 64 Islands that constitute Singapore - the Islands need sand reinforcement to combat erosion from the sea. It's not just the construction industry that needs it. To maintain the current geography and increase it, sand is essential. Neighbours due to environmental impacts no longer want to supply Singapore with sand.

CXU has non-executive directors and major holders that are of Singaporean-Chinese background, which will provide the necessary contacts and leverage to enter into contractual agreements with the Singaporean government.

What Happens When Singapore Runs Out of Sand?
The city-state is ticking back to life after the coronavirus lockdown. But existential questions about its survival remain unanswered.



Barges piled with sand traverse the sea lanes around Singapore, almost as ubiquitous as the semi trucks that ply America’s interstate highways. Aboard a small motor boat one recent afternoon, I catch sight of an imposing green wall rising from the shoreline protecting a huge sand stockpile. As one of the world’s most densely populated countries — intent on building up, down and out — Singapore couldn’t survive without millions of tons of the grainy stuff.

When you’re an island nation and seas are rising, sand is something you can never find yourself without. Singapore has grown its landmass by about a quarter since the 1960s. Some of Singapore’s most iconic spots have sprung up in places that were once underwater: the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino, Changi Airport and the Port of Singapore.

Yet the need for sand won’t go away, said Adam Switzer, associate chair at Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment. “Singapore, like many other parts of the world, will need to defend its coast against future sea level rises,” Switzer said in an email. “That will almost certainly require sourcing sand.”

Climate change is truly a matter of life and death in Singapore. If global warming continues at its current pace, an area as large as 3,400 football fields in the center of the city could be flooded by 2100, as my colleague Andy Mukherjee has noted. Leaders are acutely aware: “Everything else must bend at the knee to safeguard the existence of our island nation,” the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last year.

Singapore’s appetite for sand has become controversial. Some neighbors that used to sell it have objected, citing concerns about environmental degradation. Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam have ceased exports.When Malaysia banned overseas sales of sea sand in 2019, cynics suggested there was more at play: The country is trying to bulk up its own ports in and around the Straits of Johor that separate it from Singapore. Like Indonesia, Malaysia has built into the sea for real-estate developments.

But while much of Singapore’s fortune is tied to the water, its journey from an impoverished dot to an Asian financial and commercial power has gone hand-in-hand with its need for space and sand. The country is surrounded by neighbors, at times both cooperative and jealous, that have both. Singapore’s stockpiles are as strategic as America’s petroleum reserves. Sand, or something like it, will be a hot commodity as long as there is a Singapore.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-11-15/what-happens-when-singapore-runs-out-of-sand











Considerable amount of sand sources are no longer available. Singapore now turning to Australia for sand. Great move by management to move early to capitalise on this growth industry with the potential for substantial returns ($20-25m pa, low capex, quick route to production)